Editor 's note : CNN.com has a business partnership with CareerBuilder.com , which serves as the exclusive provider of job listings and services to CNN.com .

If you 've rolled up your sleeves and gotten experience , tell potential employers when applying for a job .

Talk to a dozen students on any college campus and you 're likely to hear a dozen different perspectives on what they hope to get out of college . Some want high GPAs ; some want to get into the work force and earn a lot of money .

Ask their parents and you 'll get just as many different answers . Some parents hope that their children earn their degree and have an easy time finding a job . Others want them to be at the top of the class so they can get into the best graduate school possible . And some just want their children to stop partying long enough to attend class once in a while .

Ask employers what they want from graduates and the answers are equally diverse . Depending on the job , you might need a degree and an internship , a degree and work experience , or the right connections to even land an interview .

According to the U.S. Census Bureau , nearly 39 million Americans over the age of 18 have a bachelor 's degree . Considering that 281 million people live in the country , college graduates are still a small percentage of the population .

Still , with a number in the millions , you are competing with a lot of job seekers who also have the same educational background as you . Relying only on your bachelor 's to land a job is not the safest route to employment . As with most things , it 's all in the presentation .

Degree or not , presentation matters

Sue Chehrenegar studied biology as an undergraduate and biomedical research as a graduate student . During her job search , she found herself losing out on job opportunities because she lacked the proper experience , despite her education . Or so she thought .

`` At the end of the 1980s , I spent more than one year looking for a job , '' she remembers . `` I kept getting this question : ` Have you done anything in the area of molecular biology ? ' '' She would tell employers that she did n't have the proper experience because she was n't specifically trained for that .

`` I did not mention the fact that I once assisted a graduate student who was putting DNA and RNA into cultured cells . ''

What does that mean in layman 's terms ? Because her specialization and the bulk of her experience was not in this particular field , she did n't consider the limited work with the graduate student worth mentioning . She later realized employers were n't looking for someone to be the ultimate authority on the subject ; they wanted someone who had a broad range of knowledge .

`` I realized my mistake more than two years after I got a job , '' Chehrenegar remembers .

`` My first year I worked in an infectious disease lab . Later , they put me in a molecular biology lab . When I helped with one of the projects in that lab , I realized that my old , unmentioned experience related to what I was doing at that time . ''

A degree is n't useless

Sure , if you 're applying for a job with bio - as a prefix , you know a degree is a requirement . But for less research-intensive jobs , you might think a degree can always be supplanted by enough experience . Depending on your occupation , that could be true but is n't a hard and fast rule for all positions .

For example , you might be able to find work at a museum , but you the odds of you transitioning into a curator can be extremely difficult without extensive education in art history and related courses . You could find that you hit a ceiling in an organization .

Although this bodes well for graduates who come armed with one or more degrees , it also means that workers in this industry have the opportunity to earn an education while they ascend the corporate ladder . In some cases , the combination of their experience and a recently awarded degree could be more impressive if you 've relied on your degree and have n't diversified your experience .

How to present yourself

Here are some tips to keep in mind when presenting yourself to employers :

• Even though you know education is n't the single factor in getting hired , it is often a prerequisite to land an interview . Do n't hide your degree just because you have a lot of experience -- you do n't want to lose out on an interview because your education was overlooked .

• Use all of your education to your advantage . Connect the job requirements to any courses you took , whether as an elective or part of your minor . You might not have loved that statistics course , but if it 's relevant to the job , mention it .

• Treat work experience and internships as proof that you 're a professional , not just a student . If you speak as if you see yourself as a student who does n't consider himself or herself as part of the working world , the employer might not either .

Copyright CareerBuilder.com 2009 . All rights reserved . The information contained in this article may not be published , broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority

@highlight

Presentation of your experience can be just as important as your degree

@highlight

Some 39 million Americans have a bachelor 's degree

@highlight

Present any of your internships or work experience that employer may appreciate